Don’t fetishize the past, work to create the future!

When I was a child I thought that the ‘old days’ were best, I wanted to have grown up in the early 1900’s. At that time I knew nothing of child labor, hunger, the merciless exploitation of the poor and mass oppression which has manifested itself in all hitherto existing society. At this point as an adult, I want nothing more than to live in the future, even if I have to pave the way to it myself.

Fetishization of the past is a common occurrence, especially among the older members of our society. But in studying human history one can see that all human history has manifested widespread misery in one form another, with nothing any of the people at that time could have done about it. But with the explosion of innovation and the productive forces in the past 300 years with the emergence of capitalism we have the tools to craft an ideal future ready-made for the taking.

Once we advance away and out of capitalist society, the innovations and advancements in technology will work to serve to benefit and ease the labor of all instead of allowing a handful of men to grow rich at the expense of tens and hundreds of millions of people. A world Christ spoke of, where the meek shall inherit the earth. As Pope Francis said, “Christ spoke of a society where the poor, the weak and the marginalized have the right to decide. Not demagogues, not Barabbas, but the people, the poor, whether they have faith in a transcendent God or not. It is they who must help to achieve equality and freedom, If anything it is the Communists who think like Christians”.

Because we have free will the future society is not predetermined, nothing is certain and as things are now no one is quite sure where society will go. Since this is the case, it is essential for the people to stand up against fascism and other misguided ideologies which are rooted in the fetishization of the past. Instead we must learn from the mistakes of the past to create a better world for everyone and not a few people at the expense of billions of people. With 21st century technology we have the ability to create such a world, or a horrendous Orwellian dystopia. For this, collective self-determination is key. The only solution is to fight mercilessly against what is wrong in the world, against every possibly and existing form of oppression and exploitation.